Best.Weekend.Ever

And by "Best.Weekend.Ever" I mean not really at all!  It was pretty much the exact opposite of the best weekend ever.  I have posted some nice pictures that highlight the fun moments, so it clearly was not a total loss, but wow!  Here is how it goes:

Friday:  We were both off work that day and had high hopes of getting out of town early and arriving in northern MI at a decent time so that we might still enjoy the beautiful day!  Didn't happen.  Never does.  We are chronically behind in all things task-related and we were doing laundry and packing and taking care of various errands all day and never got on the road until 3:30 pm.  I was kind of a Bitter Betty on the drive up north, thinking about how I should've been at Sturgeon Bay! 

Saturday:  Part of the reason we went home this weekend was to attend the 19th Annual Odawa Homecoming Pow Wow.  Our first one.  It's half of my heritage and sadly, I miss out on all of the activities living so far away.  It was neat, but sickly hot & humid.  Like, even if you found shade and sat still you were still sweating profusely!  I also didn't connect with a lot of people that I thought I would.  (Though it was nice to see Tracy & kids and Ruth!)  We didn't stay all that long.  :(

Sunday:  Patrick's triathlon in Petoskey.  Me, MVP, my mom and my sister Sue went to cheer him on.  We saw him swim and head to the bike transition.  We went to the car to feed MVP breakfast while waiting to watch his big finish.  My mom and sister kept saying that he should be coming along soon, but I was looking at a clock with central time and dilly-dallying and when we were headed over to the finish line, Patrick was walking toward us with a bewildered/irritated expression on his face!  WE MISSED THE FINISH and it was my fault!!!  I felt terrible.  Like, sickly terrible.  He did great!  That afternoon we made plans to go to the beach with Joe, Sara & Alivia.  We drive over to Sturgeon Bay, only to stay for 5 minutes due to the sand pelting us like little needles from the wind!  Ouch.  Bummer!  So we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon at the water park in Mackinaw City...fun stuff.  We had a nice little dinner when we got back home and within minutes I felt a gallbladder attack coming on.  It was horrible!  I tried to pretend it wasn't so bad and even joined everyone for a little fire and s'mores but it got to the point that I couldn't sit still from the pain.  I kept waiting for it to stop, but after 5 hours I surrendered and headed to the ER in Petoskey!  Had a abdominal ultrasound, and sure enough, major gallstones and inflammation and my labs were abnormal.  Admitted to hospital for a laparoscopic cholesystectomy the next day.  (All the while I am worried my HMO is going to give me trouble for being out of network!)

Monday:  My pain is minimal to non-existent after the pain meds in the ER and only one hit of the morphine PCA that morning.  I keep waiting to be called for surgery.  Waiting.  Waiting.  Waiting.  Mondays are busy and I was an add-on and emergencies keep bumping me.  I know how these things go, so I can't be mad.  My mouth was dry as hell by the time I went into the OR at 9:00 pm, but hey, what can you do?  The doctors and nurses and techs and well, everyone at this hospital are awesome!  Very nice and attentive.  I was completely freaked out about the general anesthesia, but they pushed the Versed as they were rolling me into the room and I don't remember ANYTHING until I was moving on to my bed back in my room and dry heaving into a bucket and rambling nonsense to my nurse!  Good times.

Tuesday:  My incredible surgeon, Dr. Michael Johnson came to see me in the morning and informed me that my gallbladder was very inflamed and that he was surprised I had no symptoms prior to June.  Good riddance, stupid gallbladder!  Dr. Johnson is a neat guy, very personable and rumored to be a crazy-hard worker in that OR!  (He performed the surgery on my niece a few years ago that saved her life!)  I slurp down some broth and a strawberry shake and hit the road.  Rest all day and night at my parent's.  God bless my mom for thinking I could eat a big ol' pork chop dinner that night! 

Wednesday:  Sore, of course, duh.  Nauseous.  Ugh.  Going home to Chicago with my sister Sue to help me out for a little while and a puke bucket between my legs provided by my mom.  Thank God for my lovely coworker who called in some Zofran for me and made the drive bearable!  Just past Grand Rapids into the home stretch of the drive and cruising at about 70 miles per hour and BAM a loud, violent crushing and skidding!  Patrick was able to guide the van to a safe stop at the side of the road and get out to find the front driver side of the van decimated and covered in deer poop!  The deer came out of what seemed like nowhere and plowed into the van and basically exploded.  Gross and ohmygod, can this REALLY be happening to me (us)?!?  None of us were hurt, thankfully.  We call the police and try to figure out what mile marker we are at.  I call AAA.  The report is made.  A towing company out of Holland arrives and we are told that they can hoist the van up on the flatbed with us in it and drive us all the way back to Chicago!  I was skeptical and questioned the sheriff about it and he reassured me it was fine.  So up and off we go, laughing hysterically!  And ouch, what a bumpy ride!  It was like going by horse & buggy.  My post-op stomach felt awesome.  We get almost to the Indiana border and the driver pulls over in New Buffalo, MI.  His dispatcher on duty that night is having a freak-out and saying it's illegal and she's going to call the Dept. of Transportation, blah, blah, blah.  Poor guy, he was really nice too!  So at this point I start crying.  I called State Farm to find out my options and we decide that Patrick will go with the driver and our van and Jasper to Chicago, and MVP, Sue and I will stay in a hotel for the night.  (Note to self: never get in an accident far from home with a lot of people and pets and stuff in your car!  It's not convenient.)  Patrick drove back and got us this morning and I spent the day getting our rental car, sending the van to the collision shop and talking with the State Farm claims center.

Please, please, please let my luck turn around now, I'm getting too tired to keep smiling to mask the aggravation!!!